Fast exit from DRAM self-refresh

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention describe a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device that may abort a self-refresh mode to improve the exit time from a DRAM low power state of self-refresh. During execution of a self-refresh mode, the DRAM device may receive a signal (e.g., a device enable signal) from a memory controller operatively coupled to the DRAM device. The DRAM device may abort the self-refresh mode in response to receiving the signal from the memory controller.

The present application is a continuation of, and claims the benefit ofpriority of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/890,067, filed Sep. 24,2010.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention generally pertain to electronic devices,and more particularly to systems, apparatuses and methods to improve theexit time from a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) low power state ofself-refresh.

BACKGROUND

Memory cells in a DRAM device include a transistor and a capacitor tostore a bit of data. The memory cells are ‘dynamic’ because their datadecays and becomes invalid due to various leakage current paths tosurrounding cells and to the substrate of the device. To keep the datain the cells valid, each memory cell is periodically refreshed.

Every row of cells in a DRAM memory array needs to be refreshed beforethe data in the row decays to an invalid state. There are two types ofrefreshes: external refreshes and internal refreshes (i.e., the DRAMdevice places itself in self-refresh mode).

During internal DRAM memory refreshes, the memory controller has novisibility to when this refresh is initiated. As a result, thecontroller is designed to wait for an entire refresh cycle (tRFC, plus aguard band, e.g., 10 ns) before issuing a command to the DRAM. The timeperiod a memory controller must wait before issuing a valid command isherein referred to as tXS (i.e., tRFC+10 ns). tRFC for a 2 Gbit deviceis in the range of 160 ns. The tRFC approximately doubles as DRAMdevices increase in density (e.g., tRFC for a 4 GBit device is in therange of 300 ns, tRFC for an 8 Gbit device is in the range of 550 ns),thus increasing tXS.

Therefore it is desirable to reduce the value of tXS for DRAM devices inorder to reduce the time a memory controller must wait before issuingvalid commands.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description includes discussion of figures havingillustrations given by way of example of implementations of embodimentsof the invention. The drawings should be understood by way of example,and not by way of limitation. As used herein, references to one or more“embodiments” are to be understood as describing a particular feature,structure, or characteristic included in at least one implementation ofthe invention. Thus, phrases such as “in one embodiment” or “in analternate embodiment” appearing herein describe various embodiments andimplementations of the invention, and do not necessarily all refer tothe same embodiment. However, they are also not necessarily mutuallyexclusive.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of selected components of a computing systemutilizing an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of a DRAM device utilizing anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a DRAM refresh cycle according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including adescription of the figures, which may depict some or all of theembodiments described below, as well as a discussion of other potentialembodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presentedherein. An overview of embodiments of the invention is provided below,followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.

DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention describe a DRAM device that may abort aself-refresh mode to improve the exit time from a DRAM low power stateof self-refresh. A self-refresh mode is to be understood as a mode torefresh rows of a DRAM device. This mode is managed internally by theDRAM—the DRAM controller has no visibility to when the refresh mode isinitiated.

In the prior art, the DRAM controller is designed to wait for a refreshcycle (tRFC) to complete (tRFC plus and a guard band value, e.g. 10 ns)before issuing a command to the DRAM. By enabling a DRAM device to aborta self-refresh mode, the DRAM controller has a significantly shorterwait period before it may issue a command to the DRAM. In oneembodiment, a DRAM device is enabled by the memory controller to abortself-refresh modes in order to maintain the option of the DRAM devicefunctioning according to the prior art (i.e., execute a fullself-refresh cycle).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of selected components of a computing systemutilizing an embodiment of the invention. Computing system 100 includesa plurality of processors (e.g., central processing units and/or cores)150-1 through 150-n, memory controller 110, memory 115 including (atleast one) DRAM memory device 130, and interconnect 120. Memorycontroller 110 controls, at least in part, the transfer of informationbetween system components and memory 115, and thus the transfer ofinformation between system components and DRAM memory 130. Said systemcomponents may include processors 150-1 through 150-n, an input/outputdevice (e.g., a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) Express device),memory itself, or any other system component that requests access tomemory 115. In other embodiments, memory controller 110 may be included(or integrated) with a system processor.

Both memory controller 110 and DRAM device 130 may cause a refresh ofthe DRAM memory cells to occur. Memory controller 110 may issue acommand to DRAM device 130 to refresh some or all of its memory cells.DRAM device 130 may also execute a “self-refresh” mode—essentially aplurality of commands to refresh the cells of the device (e.g., eachcommand may execute a refresh of a plurality of rows).

In this embodiment, memory controller 110 is responsible for “enabling”DRAM 130 (e.g., asserting a “clock enable” signal). DRAM 130 may abortan executing self-refresh mode in response to receiving the enablesignal from memory controller 110 (or a dedicated signal from memorycontroller 110 initialing the exit from self-refresh mode). It is to beunderstood that aborting an executing self-refresh mode allows for asignificant reduction in the time memory controller 110 must wait beforeissuing a valid command (i.e., tXS). Thus, aborting a self-refresh modeis also referred to herein as a fast exit from DRAM self refresh.Operations describing how DRAM 130 may abort said self-refresh mode aredescribed below.

DRAM device 130 may require memory controller 110 to “enable” the deviceto abort self-refresh modes (i.e., enable “fast exit” mode for thedevice). If the “fast exit” mode is not enabled, then DRAM device 130will not abort the self-refresh mode. Memory controller 110 will beaware if “fast exit” mode is or is not enabled, and adjust the timing ofissuing commands to the DRAM device accordingly.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of a DRAM device utilizing anembodiment of the invention. In this example, a DRAM memory includes (atleast one) double-data rate (DDR) 4×4 device 200. DRAM device 200 mayinclude plurality of memory banks 201-216 (other embodiments may beutilized by devices including more or less banks). Memory banks 201-216may have differing types of memory cells in some embodiments (e.g., onetype of memory cell may be faster than others or may consume more orless power compared with other memory cell types). Moreover, varioustypes of DRAM may be utilized for the memory banks shown in FIG. 2,including for example, Graphics DRAM, Fast DRAM, Low Power DRAM, etc.

Banks 201-216 may be organized within four bank groups, each groupincluding four banks (i.e., group 201-204, 205-208, 209-212 and213-216). In this example, 32 bits of data are transferred for everyread or write access.

According to the DDR3 specification (as defined by JEDEC JESD79-3) therefresh period is 64 ms and refresh interval is 7.8 us. This translatesto 8K refresh commands during the refresh period (64 ms/7.8 us=8K). Inthis example, DRAM device 200 has 32K rows per bank; thus each refreshcommand will refresh four rows of memory (32K/8K=4).

A self-refresh mode executed by DRAM device 200 may be aborted duringthe execution of a refresh command (i.e., during the refresh of fourrows of memory in this embodiment). It is to be understood that whenDRAM device 200 receives an indication to abort a self-refresh mode(e.g., a device enable signal from the DRAM controller, a dedicatedsignal from the controller to abort the self-refresh, etc.), it mayincrease the efficiency of subsequent self-refresh mode executions tokeep track of which rows were able to be refreshed, and which rows haveyet to be refreshed. Row refreshes may be kept track of through rowaddress counter 250 containing bits B14-B0—because there are 32k rowsper bank, DRAM device 200 would require 15 row address bits for rowaddress counter 250.

Because four rows of memory are refreshed per refresh command in thisembodiment, two bits (e.g., B0 and B1) may indicate the specific row torefresh, and the remaining bits indicate which bank group and bankincludes the row to be refreshed. In this example, at the start of eachrefresh command, bits B1 and B0 are 00. If a refresh command is issuedthen the remaining row address bit segment (e.g., B14-B2) is incrementedby one and bits B1 and B0 cycle thru 00, 01, 10 and 11. This assumesthat four rows of memory are refreshed in all the banks.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the invention. Flowdiagrams as illustrated herein provide examples of sequences of variousprocess actions. Although shown in a particular sequence or order,unless otherwise specified, the order of the actions can be modified.Thus, the illustrated implementations should be understood only asexamples, and the illustrated processes can be performed in a differentorder, and some actions may be performed in parallel. Additionally, oneor more actions can be omitted in various embodiments of the invention;thus, not all actions are required in every implementation. Otherprocess flows are possible. Operations described below may be executedvia logic, circuitry or modules included in a DRAM device.

A self refresh mode is executed on a DRAM device, 300. The self refreshmode may be a plurality of commands, each command to refresh a pluralityof rows of the DRAM device (e.g., 4 rows per command as describedabove).

The self-refresh mode may include commands to update a row addresscounter after each DRAM row is refreshed, 310. As describes above, therow address counter may indicate the rank, device and bank that includesthe DRAM row that is to be refreshed.

An signal from a memory controller operatively coupled to the DRAMdevice indicating the self refresh mode is to be aborted may bereceived, 320. In one embodiment, this signal is a device enable signal.In other embodiments, the signal is a dedicated signal indicating theself-refresh mode is to be exited. The self-refresh mode is aborted inresponse to receiving the signal, 330. The DRAM device may include aself-refresh exit routine to handle self-refresh aborts consistently.

When the signal from the memory controller is received, it is possiblethat a self refresh was ongoing within the DRAM. If self-refresh wasongoing, then in one embodiment the self-refresh is aborted on a rowboundary. In other words, the rows that are currently being refreshedare finished, but the row address counter is not incremented, 340.

For example, if DRAM was in the middle of refreshing the second of fourrows, then row address counter bits [B01:B00] are at (0,1) assumingcounters are incremented at end of refresh. In this embodiment, the 3rdand 4th row are not refreshed and row address counter bits [B01:B00] arereset to (0,0). Row address counters bits [B14:B2] are at the same valueas before the refresh command that was aborted. In other words, they arenot incremented. In other embodiments, row address counter bits[B01:B00] are incremented to reflect the last specific row that wasrefreshed before the self-refresh mode was aborted.

Thus, it is understood that in embodiments of the invention, due to thepossibility of several aborts, the rows of a DRAM device may not berefreshed via the DRAM device self-refresh mode. The memory controllermay initiate an external refresh to keep the data in the cells valid.

FIG. 4 illustrates a DRAM refresh cycle according to an embodiment ofthe invention. This diagram shows a potential self-refresh cycle forfour rows of a bank according to an embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, a refresh command will refresh rows 400-403. Thetime to complete this command is represented by tRFC 410, while the timeto complete a refresh of each row is represented by tRC 420.

It is to be understood that the fast self-refresh exit time inembodiments of the invention is tRC 420 (plus a guard band) as opposedto tRFC 410 (plus a guard band). As illustrated in FIG. 4, tRC 420 issignificantly shorter than tRFC 410. In this example, a 2 GBit DRAMdevices a presumed, and thus tRC is 45 ns while tRFC is 160 ns. It isunderstood that the discrepancy between tRC and tRFC in high densityDRAM devices is larger (e.g., tRFC for a 4 GBit device is in the rangeof 300 ns, while tRFC for an 8 Gbit device is in the range of 550 ns).

In one embodiment, a memory controller will at least periodically issuean extra DRAM device refresh command upon causing a DRAM device to exitthe self-refresh mode. This ensures that all rows of a DRAM device arerefreshed in the presence of a plurality of self-refresh mode aborts.

Various components referred to above as processes, servers, or toolsdescribed herein may be a means for performing the functions described.Each component described herein includes software or hardware, or acombination of these. The components can be implemented as softwaremodules, hardware modules, special-purpose hardware (e.g., applicationspecific hardware, ASICs, DSPs, etc.), embedded controllers, hardwiredcircuitry, etc. Software content (e.g., data, instructions,configuration) may be provided via an article of manufacture including acomputer storage readable medium, which provides content that representsinstructions that can be executed. The content may result in a computerperforming various functions/operations described herein. A computerreadable storage medium includes any mechanism that provides (i.e.,stores and/or transmits) information in a form accessible by a computer(e.g., computing device, electronic system, etc.), such asrecordable/non-recordable media (e.g., read only memory (ROM), randomaccess memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media,flash memory devices, etc.). The content may be directly executable(“object” or “executable” form), source code, or difference code(“delta” or “patch” code). A computer readable storage medium may alsoinclude a storage or database from which content can be downloaded. Acomputer readable medium may also include a device or product havingcontent stored thereon at a time of sale or delivery. Thus, delivering adevice with stored content, or offering content for download over acommunication medium may be understood as providing an article ofmanufacture with such content described herein.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM) device configured to execute a self-refresh mode,wherein in the self-refresh mode the DRAM device is configured to issueinternal refresh commands to manage refresh internally, wherein aninternal refresh command is to refresh a plurality of rows of the DRAMdevice within a refresh interval tRFC; and a memory controlleroperatively coupled to the DRAM device, and configured to send a signalto cause the DRAM device to exit the self-refresh mode; and when theDRAM device is configured to abort the self-refresh mode, in response tothe signal from the memory controller, the DRAM device is configured toabort the self-refresh mode including to exit self-refresh mode prior tocompletion of the refresh interval tRFC, and otherwise to not abort theself-refresh mode.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal from thememory controller comprises a clock enable signal.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the DRAM device is configured to complete refresh of aDRAM row and to not refresh all rows of the plurality of rows.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein a row address counter is not incremented toindicate the completion of refresh of the DRAM row.
 5. The system ofclaim 3, wherein a row address counter is incremented to indicate thecompletion of refresh of the DRAM row.
 6. The system of claim 1, thememory controller to further send an enable signal to the DRAM device toenable the DRAM device to abort the self-refresh mode.
 7. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the memory controller is configured to send an externalself-refresh in response to enabling the DRAM device.
 8. A dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM) device comprising: a plurality of dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM) rows; an input/output interface configuredto operatively couple to a memory controller, the input/output interfaceconfigured to receive a self-refresh abort signal from the memorycontroller; and refresh logic configured to execute a self-refresh mode,wherein in the self-refresh mode the DRAM device is configured to issueinternal refresh commands to manage refresh internally, wherein the DRAMdevice is configured to refresh a plurality of DRAM rows within arefresh interval tRFC based on an internal refresh command, and when theDRAM device is configured to abort the self-refresh mode, in response tothe self-refresh abort signal from the memory controller, the refreshlogic is configured to abort the self-refresh mode including to exitself-refresh mode prior to completion of the refresh interval tRFC, andotherwise to not abort the self-refresh mode.
 9. The DRAM device ofclaim 8, wherein the self-refresh abort signal from the memorycontroller comprises a clock enable signal.
 10. The DRAM device of claim8, wherein the DRAM device is configured to complete refresh of a DRAMrow and to not refresh all rows of the plurality of rows.
 11. The DRAMdevice of claim 10, wherein a row address counter is not incremented toindicate the completion of refresh of the DRAM row.
 12. The DRAM deviceof claim 10, wherein a row address counter is incremented to indicatethe completion of refresh of the DRAM row.
 13. The DRAM device of claim8, further comprising logic to receive a signal from the memorycontroller to enable the DRAM device to abort the self-refresh mode. 14.A method comprising: executing a self-refresh mode on a dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM) device, wherein in the self-refresh mode the DRAMdevice issues internal refresh commands to manage refresh internally,wherein an internal refresh command refreshes a plurality of rows of theDRAM device within a refresh interval tRFC; receiving a signal from amemory controller operatively coupled to the DRAM device; and when theDRAM device is configured to abort the self-refresh mode, aborting theself-refresh mode in response to receiving the signal from the memorycontroller, including exiting self-refresh mode prior to completion ofthe refresh interval tRFC, and otherwise not aborting the self-refreshmode.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the signal from the memorycontroller comprises a clock enable signal.
 16. The method of claim 14,wherein aborting the self-refresh mode comprises finishing refresh of aDRAM row and not finishing refresh of all rows of the plurality of rows.17. The method of claim 16, wherein a row address counter is notincremented to indicate the finished refresh of the DRAM row.
 18. Themethod of claim 16, wherein a row address counter is incremented toindicate the finished refresh of the DRAM row.